Alex Wuijts

Check out this preview, especially at 0:30. Looks like a Genesis.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7e9wgshS0qI

No Country had about 10 times more action than Jesse James.

So? The assassination... had Brad Pitt.

Just like you said Ken, most moving goers are only watching a movie to be excited.. they have no intention to seek in the film to see what really lies beneath.

But then again No country wasn't an easy movie either, but people went for it like a pack of hungry wolves, and they all loved it, here in the Netherlands anyway. I believe it's all more for marketing reasons than lack of depth in the public's taste.

You can skirt the toplight with some black cloth to make the walls a little friendlier to look at, and use a small bounce to create some fill if you want.

... for the spotlight use a par can or a leko...

might as well rent a real spotlight, that way you can vary the size and shape of the beam very easily. Or does a leko do that as well?

Doesn't Gregg Toland play a reporter who interviews Kane about the threat of war in Europe in Citizen Kane? Thought so.

Thanks for answering everybody. I wonder too about the marking.

Hi,

With digital formats, is focus always measured from the imaging sensor to the subject, or are there exceptions to this, like measuring from the front of the lens?

I've heard this a couple of times now and I don't understand the logic behind it.

Thank you,

My '96 version of the book only mentions the MKII, but the filmtools site mentions the following about the MKIII:

New Features Include:

Two additional Circle of Confusion curves: 1/1400" & 1/200" (0.018 & 0.012mm) to suit modern high definition lenses. All curves are now alternately colored red and black for easy identification.

Updated Lens Focal length markings to suit today's commonly used lenses.

Easier to read Depth of Field distanc markings.

Both Imperial and Metric disks supplied as standard

HMI flicker-free windows chart (50 & 60 Hz).

Compass incorporated into the central disk locking mechanism with Magnetic Variation markings and Sunrise/Sunset tables in the instruciton booklet.

Super 35 and 2/3" video formats are now included in the reverse side Field of View nomogram.

Close-up Magnification and Exposure guide (35mm Academy format).

6" and 15cm ruler markings.

Soft carrying pouch with belt loop.

In that article, he said the issue was brought up in a Digital camera forum. Is it possible that DSLR meters and 35mm SLR meters are calibrated for different grey values? Could it be that DSLR's read 12% as middle grey to save you from overexposure, preserving more information in the digital image?

 

Just puttin' these questions out there :)

That would make sense, but my Sekonic 558 cine manual mentions a Calibration Constant (K) of 12.5 as well. My 18% world is collapsing before my eyes ;)

How about the meetings with Deep Throat in All the President's Men? Nice and dark. I worked on a film that had a parking garage scene at night, and the green fluorescent overhead lighting gave a real good eery atmosphere.

edit: just one minute after the former poster!

It has nothing to do with reflected light. An incident reading simply tells you that to expose 'x' amount of light falling on the dome (incident light) at middle gray (18%), use 'y' f-stop.

Thanks for the quick answer, Kevin! Somehow the most simple things can be hard to grasp at times.

I can't quite seem to figure out how an incident light meter translates an amount of light to a suggested f-stop and how 18% reflection relates to this. Anyone here who can straighten this out for me? By the way, I don't mean 'how do you use an incident light meter?', I'm looking for a (simplistic) technical answer and can't find it anywhere on the internet.

Very much appreciated,

Alex

Can anyone tell me what the advantage would be with on-camera filters? You already have the 85( B ) on there probably, so wouldn't it be a an advantage to get a better stop and change the colour in post?

I wish I could credit the quote, but someone once said "flexibility in post means flexibility for someone else to screw it up." In the end it's a judgement call. There's no right or wrong way much of the time (although there are still some things optics can do that digital manipulation has a harder time replicating). You just have to pick which method is going to work best for your particular situation.

sounds a lot like statements made by by Gordon Willis and Owen Roizman which I've read in seventies issues of AC (on shooting The Godfather, The Exorcist and The French Connection)

Hey,

This is written by Dutch camera student and all around good guy Sven Kommers. Maybe it's of any help, maybe it's useless to you, but it's free so give it a try. I don't have a palm so I couldn't check it for you.

http://www.svenkommers.nl/Download/Softwar...n3B_PPC.ARM.CAB

Good luck.

Out of curiosity, how do you go about calibrating your meter to your DP's meter? I thought calibrating a light meter was only something that the manafacturer did? It sounds like a good idea to calibrate your meter to the DP's meter, I just wouldn't want to screw anything up.

 

As for the kit, most of the expendables and gear (tape, duvetyne, c-stands, etc etc) should be covered by the show. I think it's important to have good set of gloves, comfortable shoes, a leatherman (some people prefer gerber multi-tools), a 10'' crescent wrench, a headlamp and a flashlight, a good comfortable belt, laser pointers come in handy a lot when you're checking frame lines and such. A good insulated coffee mug is also a must, as well as a t-shirt from your favorite local grip house....

I know that with Sekonic lightmeters like the l-558 cine that I own, you can calibrate your meter in the Calibration Compensation menu in 1/10 step EV increments.

Michael: What you also need is tools to measure electricity, like a multimeter. You can keep that in your box while you carry one of those handy screwdriver/voltage seekers with you on your toolbelt.

If you know what you are doing, spread the forces using pancakes with a little duvetyn padding to diffuse the outward forces, etc you wont break walls, plaster, etc.

that's a great tip

For some of you this may be old news.

There's been a couple of threads here about hanging lights for 360 degree shooting or in other occasions where hanging lights overhead is the way to go, so I wanted to point the ones who don't know it yet to these very nice wall spreaders. They're a lot stronger than polecats - you have to basically hang your full weight on them to check if they are hanging tight enough (be careful though), and just as easy to use.

I don't know what the English term is, but you use extendable pipes that are also used in parallels. The one thing you have to be 100% sure of is the strength of the walls you use them on, in other words, use them on a bearing wall only.

On this site you can find some pictures: http://www.technofilms.com/wall_spreader.htm

I don't know if the ones I used are of this particular brand, but it was the only similar spreader I could find an image of.

Alex.

As a complete aside, is it still called a 4 by in parts of the world smart enough to use the metric system?)

For the sets I've worked on in the Netherlands: a 4x4 is called a one-twenty frame or just a big frame. A 6x6 is a 2x2, a 12x12 is a 4x4 and a 20x20 is a 6x6.

I don't do theatre lighting, but I do light the exhibitions of this photography museum in Amsterdam: http://www.huismarseille.nl

Make sure it has a beer opener, very useful.

Hey Mark,

For a photoshoot I just went to a professional make-up store. They had little plastic bottles of all kinds of fake blood. Dark, light, edable etc.

Check out this website:

http://www.kryolan.com/en/Products/Pro/FX/Blood/Blood.htm

Maybe not what you're looking for, but it might help.

Best,

I love this movie, and I love typical Willis shots, like the long shot in Manhattan where Woody Allen walks down the stairs in his apartment on the far right of the frame towards Tracy lying on the couch on the far left, with just a few light spots in the frame. Another typical shot in the Parallax View is the long shot in the office of the paper he works for. A lot of negative space with the small bright room in the back.

The way he handled the fight at the dam is also very onconventional, I don't believe there's a single close-up in there.

On a shoot with the Weisscam last week me and my gaffer were told by the DIT not to use the blondes we set up next to some 10K's, because of flicker. We were shooting at 300fps.